The Western Interdisciplinary Drone Laboratory

NSERC RTI赠款的目标是在西部建立一个新的研究实验室，称为西部跨学科无人机实验室(WIDL)。所需设备将支持地球科学系一名高级教员(Osinski)和三名初级教员(Goda，Molnar，Neish)以及校园内其他几名教员的研究计划。正如我们有两名男性(Osinski，Goda)和两名女性(Molnar，Neish)申请者所表明的那样，团队组成的多样性是并将继续是建立研究团队专业知识的有意考虑因素。*该设备将使尖端的新研究能够在广泛的主题范围内进行，重点放在以下4个领域：1)比较行星学、冰缘地貌学、灾后地震调查、前寒武纪地质学和地震微区划。此外，该设备还将支持西部大学其他教职员工在考古学、作物病害检测、水文学和矿产勘探领域的研究。这些不同的领域有一个共同的主题，那就是在通常偏远、难以接近和/或危险的环境中开展实地科学。申请者需要的交叉产品包括数字高程模型(DEM)、高分辨率图像以及关于地表沉积物和岩石的成分信息。*曾经依赖“地面靴子方法”的一种日益常见的方法是远程收集数据。这是遥感领域迅速扩张的缩影。从历史上看，遥感需要使用从直升机和飞机上收集的卫星图像或机载调查，这既昂贵又难以实时获取。由于最近的技术进步，小型无人机(UAV)或无人机的开发和使用出现了爆炸性增长。无人机的使用将彻底改变申请者实地研究项目的数据收集方式。它们将允许实时收集低成本数据；快速访问对人和/或轮式车辆构成危险的地点(例如，大规模山体滑坡、悬崖/峡谷、块状熔岩流等)；它们可以方便地运输和使用在世界任何地方。总而言之，这些轻便的便携式平台在按需、低成本、可远程部署的平台中提供了现场的鸟瞰。这里要求的设备包括能够快速覆盖大片区域的固定翼无人机，以及四轴飞行器，它们具有更高的提升能力，可以携带更多有效载荷，并增加了对低空测绘地区的机动性。要求的传感器包括可见光和多光谱相机，以及激光雷达。除了代表WESTERN研究范式的转变外，购买这种设备还将通过为学生提供独特的新机会，让他们接受遥感实践培训，从而显著提高培训质量和程度。

The goal of this NSERC RTI grant is to establish a new research laboratory at Western called the Western Interdisciplinary Drone Laboratory (WIDL). The requested equipment will support the research programs of one senior (Osinski) and three junior (Goda, Molnar, Neish) faculty in the Department of Earth Sciences as well as several others from across campus. As demonstrated by the fact that we have 2 male (Osinski, Goda) and 2 female (Molnar, Neish) applicants, diversity in team composition is, and will continue to be, an intentional consideration in building the expertise of the research team. ******This equipment will enable cutting-edge new research to be conducted, across a broad range of topics, with a focus on the following 4 areas: 1) comparative planetology, periglacial geomorphology, post-disaster earthquake surveys, Precambrian geology, and seismic microzonation. In addition, this equipment will also support research by other faculty members at Western in the areas of archaeology, crop disease detection, hydrology, and mineral exploration. These disparate fields have a common theme which is field science in often remote, inaccessible and/or dangerous environments. Cross-cutting products required by the applicants include digital elevation models (DEMs), high-resolution imagery, and compositional information on surface deposits and rocks.******Once reliant on a “boots on the ground approach”, an increasingly common method is to collect data remotely this epitomizes the rapidly expanding field of remote sensing. Historically, remote sensing has entailed the use of satellite imagery or airborne surveys collected from helicopters and airplanes, which is expensive and difficult to acquire in real-time. Due to recent technological advancements, there has been an explosion of the development and use of small-scale unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones. The use of drones will revolutionize data collection for the applicants' field research programs. They will allow for the collection of low-cost data in real-time; quick access to sites where access is hazardous to people and/or wheeled vehicles (e.g., large-scale landslides, cliffs/gorges, blocky lava flows, etc.); and they can be easily transported and used anywhere in the world. In summary, these lightweight portable platforms provide a bird's eye view of a field site in an on-demand, low-cost, remotely deployable platform. The equipment requested here includes fixed-wing drones to enable rapid coverage of large areas, and quadcopters, which have higher lift capacity to carry additional payloads and have increased manoeuvrability for mapping areas at low altitudes. Requested sensors include visible and multispectral cameras, and LiDAR. In addition to representing a paradigm shift in research at Western, the acquisition of this equipment will significantly enhance the quality and extent of training by providing unique new opportunities for students to receive hands-on training in remote sensing.